Stephan cautious about Poku’s QPR return

Julien Stephan has suggested that QPR might need to be patient with Kwame Poku when the winger returns to action.

Poku is expected to train in the coming days and could even be considered for a place in the squad against Middlesbrough on Sunday.

Having been signed from Peterborough during the summer, Poku suffered a hamstring injury on his debut and was out for almost three months.

He suffered another hamstring injury in early January and has now spent another two months on the sidelines.

Head coach Stephan said: “I hope he will come back quickly (soon). There is a difference between coming back and being competitive. There is a big difference.

“When you come back like this you need to be clever about how you restart. It was a long injury. In fact, he had two long injuries this season, so he didn’t play a lot.

“Of course it (Poku’s possible return) is good news. But we don’t consider that only one player can change everything.

“It’s an option. One more player. But I repeat, there’s a difference between coming back and being competitive.”

Rangers expect to know more about the extent of Nicolas Madsen’s injury – also a hamstring problem – in the next few days.

Key midfielder Madsen limped off during Rangers’ recent 5-0 defeat at Southampton.

With Madsen and other players unavailable, Stephan was asked after Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Sheffield United about the decision to allow Sam Field to join Norwich on loan.

The Frenchman replied: “I am very happy for Sam. He is playing for Norwich and did some good games.

“I don’t think we can explain the last game we did with Sam’s situation. It was just a decision.

“We didn’t know Nico Madsen would have an injury and did not know that Ilias Chair would not be able to come back at the moment. We did not know that Kader Dembele had an ACL injury,

“I’m happy for Sam. He’s playing well and it’s a good thing for him.”